New to me anyway. Brought some fresh meat home from Indiana. Left it soak in icy water for about 48 hours. Lots of blood leached into the water. Meat looks more like beef. Best venison I ever tasted.
Anyone try this soaking method?

The late John Wooters was an advocate of soaking venison.

No, I would not soak meat. I do use a wet aging method for venison which has been discussed sometime here before. I have had very good results with that.

This is the mildest I've had since my grandfather broiled us some doe burger with cheese on a burger bun back in the 70's. However, I just put a backstrap roast in the oven. Same ice water soak. Wet aged for 7 days in the fridge and rinsed and patted dry.

Some animals are just milder and more tender than others.

I don’t know that soaking it in an ice bath is any better than any other cooling method.

Pretty much for me if it is cooled quickly it tastes better than something shot in warm temps and not cared for immediately and cooled ASAP. The deer I’ve shot and hung when it’s around freezing have been better than the ones shot when warm.

In general, the statistics aren’t robust enough to tell for deer hunters, but butchers kill, gut, and then cool in refrigerated air immediately; then they hang it for a time. That over the years has been shown to optimize quadruped meat.

Birds are killed, cooled, and processed immediately and tend to be consumed right away- no hanging.

I cannot say that an ice bath is better than refrigerated hanging, but it seems to meet getting the game cooled as quickly as possible as possible and you are aging it.

The only downside is what I have seen happen when an animal is gut shot- everything in that cooler tasted of guts- gamy and off. Dry hanging you at least can see the contaminated spots and cut and throw that part out.

I tend to 'age' everything. Even fish. Caught a mess of bluegills out of my pond and ate some of them the next day.

I may be a bit weird but find older animals, whether domestic meats or wild, have better flavor to me. I like a 3 YO buck deer. Two YO hair sheep ram, etc. I never have a problem with any being tough.

Soaking meat in cold water, ideally with salt and sugar added, has been an old standby in the culinary industry. Brining, as it is called, serves to moisten and add flavor to meat. In the case of wild game, it also draws out the blood which often carries the gamey taste. Especially useful on venison and dark meat game birds like dove.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
Soaking meat in cold water, ideally with salt and sugar added, has been an old standby in the culinary industry. Brining, as it is called, serves to moisten and add flavor to meat. In the case of wild game, it also draws out the blood which often carries the gamey taste. Especially useful on venison and dark meat game birds like dove.

"Gamey flavor" comes from not removing sinews and silver skin covering the muscles in venison.

Ah darn. The loin was not very good. I overcooked it. At least it wasn't gamey. Just stringy with an overwhelming sour taste from too much Port wine. Leftovers went into the freezer trash.

CB sorry it didn't come out well. Half the time I overcook liver and the same result. Dogs get it and they are happy for it.

I don't know about that Ann. I always remove those parts and there is a definite difference in flavor between brined and not brined imho. Deer blood smells rank to me. Doves too.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
Soaking meat in cold water, ideally with salt and sugar added, has been an old standby in the culinary industry. Brining, as it is called, serves to moisten and add flavor to meat. In the case of wild game, it also draws out the blood which often carries the gamey taste. Especially useful on venison and dark meat game birds like dove.

"Gamey flavor" comes from not removing sinews and silver skin covering the muscles in venison.

The good news is that I tried a new combination for venison chili with the shoulder tenders from this deer. This one scored a 9 out of 10. Only a trace of venison flavor remained.
Next time prep will be the same. Ice water soak for 48 hours and NO salt. I've tried the salt brine in the past and it made little to no improvement.
And I agree with Anne. Remove all sinew, silver skin and I also remove most of the fat.

Interesting discussion. I use dry brine on venison, sounds counter intuitive but it softens the meat and draws moisture into the meat Wet brine is for the large tough geese we have in South Africa...again tenderising meat and adding moisture into the meat. Have heard of local hunters placing bloodshot meat in ice water....I use lower velocity cartridges and my dogs appreciate any bloody meat. I eat venison or gamebirds most days, and unusual to have "gamey meat"......always well hung but not in the traditional European style which is for me at least an acquired taste.

A fine report Mr. umzingele.